Private Key
A secret piece of data that proves ownership of crypto assets and authorizes transactions.
A private key is a secret string of data that allows its holder to authorize transactions from a given address on a blockchain. Anyone with access to a private key can control the assets associated with it.
Because possession of a private key is equivalent to control over the associated assets, keeping it secret and secure is one of the most important responsibilities for anyone holding cryptocurrency. See Kaavon's "Seed Phrase" glossary definition for the common human-readable backup of a private key, "Hardware Wallet" and "Cold Storage" for common ways to keep one offline, and "Multi-Signature Wallet" for a design that avoids relying on any single private key at all.
Examples
- A wallet uses a private key behind the scenes to digitally sign an outgoing transaction.
- A seed phrase is a human-readable backup that can be used to recreate a wallet's private keys.